DOCSLIB.ORG

Financial Insecurity, Food Insecurity, and Disability: the Profile of People Receiving Emergency Food Assistance from the Trussell Trust Foodbank Network in Britain

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Financial Insecurity, Food Insecurity, and Disability: the Profile of People Receiving Emergency Food Assistance from the Trussell Trust Foodbank Network in Britain Financial insecurity, food insecurity, and disability: The profile of people receiving emergency food assistance from The Trussell Trust Foodbank Network in Britain June 2017 Rachel Loopstra & Doireann Lalor Financial insecurity, food insecurity, and disability: the profile of people receiving emergency food assistance from The Trussell Trust Foodbank Network in Britain Rachel Loopstra & Doireann Lalor This publication arises from activities funded by the University of Oxford’s Economic and Social Research Council Impact Acceleration Account in collaboration and with funding from The Trussell Trust Foodbank Network. The analyses and report were conducted by the authors. The facts presented and views expressed in this report are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funders. Contact information: The Trussell Trust Unit 9, Ashfield Trading Estate Ashfield Road Salisbury SP2 7HL E: [email protected] © Rachel Loopstra & Doireann Lalor, 2017 All rights reserved. Reproduction of this report by photocopying or electronic means for non-commercial purposes is permitted. Otherwise, no part of this report may be reproduced, adapted, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the authors. Designed and produced by JD Designs W: www.jddesigns.co.uk E: [email protected] T: 0208 1444 171 Contents List of Tables ...............................................................................................................................................................iv List of Figures...............................................................................................................................................................v List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................................vi Foreword ....................................................................................................................................................................vii Executive Summary..................................................................................................................................................viii 1. Background to the research ....................................................................................................................................1 1.1 The rise of food banks in the UK 2 1.2 Food bank usage, food insecurity, and material deprivation 3 1.3 Trends in food bank usage in comparison to trends in low income 5 2. About the study .......................................................................................................................................................7 2.1 Scope of the research 8 2.2 How the Trussell Trust “Foodbank” operates 8 3. Study methodology ...............................................................................................................................................10 3.1 Research objectives 11 3.2 Survey design and sampling methodology 11 3.3 Survey questionnaire 11 3.4 Results of recruitment and the sample population 12 3.5 Study limitations 12 4. Socio-demographic and household characteristics ............................................................................................14 4.1 Respondent and household characteristics 15 4.2 How do the characteristics of households using food banks compare with the general population? 18 4.3 How do the characteristics of households using food banks compare with the low-income population? 18 5. Economic status and benefit receipt ....................................................................................................................21 5.1 Economic status 22 5.2 Sources of income 24 5.3 Waiting on a new benefit application 25 6. Household incomes and financial insecurity .......................................................................................................27 6.1 Household income in the past month 28 6.2 Stability of incomes and income shocks 29 6.3 Expenditure shocks 31 7. Household food insecurity, food bank use and other indicators of material deprivation ..................................33 7.1 Household food insecurity and food bank usage 34 7.2 Other experiences of material deprivation 36 7.3 Household debt 38 8. Health conditions, illness and disabilities ........................................................................................................... 40 8.1 The prevalence and nature of health conditions among respondents and household members 41 8.2 The profile of food bank users accounting for disability 43 9. Discussion and conclusions ..................................................................................................................................45 9.1 Main findings and discussion 46 9.2 New insights and directions for research 48 9.3 Conclusions 48 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................................50 About the authors .....................................................................................................................................................51 About The Trussell Trust ...........................................................................................................................................51 Funding ......................................................................................................................................................................51 FINANCIAL INSECURITY AND FOOD INSECURITY iii List of Tables Table 1: Respondent socio-demographic characteristics Table 2: Economic status of adults in households Table 3: Households waiting on a benefit application by current source of income Table 4: Length of time waiting since made application for new benefit payment Table 5: Benefits applied for among recent applicants Table 6: Reasons indicated to explain why income less this month than three months ago Table 7: Proportion of households reporting steady and unsteady incomes by household employment status Table 8: Experiences of unexpected expenses and rising living costs in past 3 months Table 9: Intersection of unsteady income, losses of income, and budget shocks Table 10: Chronicity and severity of household food insecurity among food insecure households Table 11: Pattern of Trussell Trust food bank usage by chronicity of severe food insecurity over past 12 months Table 12: Proportion of households in bill arrears Table 13: Proportion of households reporting ease or difficulty affording rent among households living in rental accommodation Table 14: Personal or household loans, and difficulty of making minimum payments Table 15: Loan providers among households with loans Table 16: Prevalence of mental health conditions iv FINANCIAL INSECURITY AND FOOD INSECURITY List of Figures Figure 1: Households by household type Figure 2: Most prevalent household types by gender Figure 3: Number of children <16 years of age among households with children Figure 4: Proportion of individuals in households using food banks compared to proportion of individuals in low-income households in UK population by household type Figure 5: Proportion of children in households using food banks compared to proportion of children in low-income households in UK population by number of children in household Figure 6: Proportion of households with employment income or with adults employed Figure 7: Sources of household income Figure 8: Proportion of households benefit types as a proportion of households receiving out-of-work benefits among food bank users compared with claimants in Great Britain in 2016 Figure 9: Households waiting on a recent benefit application and status of application Figure 10: Reported income in past month Figure 11: Steadiness of income from week to week or month to month Figure 12: Household food insecurity status Figure 13: Selected responses from USDA Household Food Security Survey module Figure 14: Current accommodation Figure 15: Experiences of destitution in past 12 months Figure 16: Prevalence of health conditions among respondents and household members Figure 17: Health conditions of highest prevalence among respondents and their household members with health conditions Figure 18: Impact of health problems on domains of daily living among respondents with a health condition Figure 19: Compared with low-income households in the general population, low-income households using food banks are more likely to contain someone with a disability or to be a lone parent family FINANCIAL INSECURITY AND FOOD INSECURITY v List of Abbreviations ESA Employment and Support Allowance ESA (WRAG) Employment and Support Allowance (work-related activity group) ESRC Economic and Social Research Council FSA Food Standards Agency HBAI Households Below Average Income JSA Jobseeker’s Allowance USDA United States Department of Agriculture vi FINANCIAL INSECURITY AND FOOD INSECURITY Foreword In April of this year, The Trussell Trust reported that our network of 428 food banks gave out nearly 1.2 million three-day emergency food supplies, a record number. As the numbers continue to grow, the task of challenging injustice and stopping UK hunger becomes more and more urgent. This is why this report from the University of Oxford is so important. For the first time, we have unique access, with a level of detail unseen until now, into
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Addressing Food Poverty in the UK: Charity, Rights and Welfare
    SPERI Paper No. 18 Addressing Food Poverty in the UK: Charity, Rights and Welfare. Hannah Lambie-Mumford About the author Dr Hannah Lambie-Mumford Hannah is a Research Fellow at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI), University of Sheffield. She has previously held research roles at the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick and the Applied Research Centre in Sustainable Regeneration at Coventry University. Hannah has done research on topics relating to food and poverty and the rise of emergency food provision for funders including the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Hannah is also a member of Child Poverty Action Group’s (CPAG) policy committee. In June 2014 she was awarded first prize for Outstanding Early Career Impact at the ESRC’s Celebrating Impact awards. ISSN 2052-000X Published in February 2015 SPERI Paper No. 18 – Addressing Food Poverty in the UK: Charity, Rights and Welfare 1 Executive Summary Since 2000 there has been a proliferation of charitable emergency food provision in the United Kingdom, which has expanded particularly fast in the last five years. Whilst the provision of food to people in need by charitable organisations has a long history in the UK, the formalisation of this provision and its facilitation and co- ordination at a national level is unprecedented in this country. This research looked at the rise of emergency food provision in the UK and at the implications of this phenomenon for the realisation of the human right to food.
    [Show full text]
  • From a Culture of Food Waste to a Culture of Food Security: a Comparison of Food Waste Law and Policy in France and in the United States
    William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review Volume 43 (2018-2019) Issue 2 Article 8 January 2019 From A Culture Of Food Waste To A Culture Of Food Security: A Comparison Of Food Waste Law And Policy In France And In The United States Lindsay Bunting Eubanks Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmelpr Part of the Agribusiness Commons, Environmental Law Commons, Food and Drug Law Commons, and the Food Studies Commons Repository Citation Lindsay Bunting Eubanks, From A Culture Of Food Waste To A Culture Of Food Security: A Comparison Of Food Waste Law And Policy In France And In The United States, 43 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol'y Rev. 667 (2019), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmelpr/vol43/iss2/8 Copyright c 2019 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmelpr FROM A CULTURE OF FOOD WASTE TO A CULTURE OF FOOD SECURITY: A COMPARISON OF FOOD WASTE LAW AND POLICY IN FRANCE AND IN THE UNITED STATES LINDSAY BUNTING EUBANKS* INTRODUCTION Fighting food waste fights hunger. It also cleans the planet. Cur- rently, one third of all the food produced in the world—1.3 billion tons of edible food—goes to waste every year.1 Each ton of food wasted produces 3.8 tons of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.2 In America, wasted food produces over 20% of methane gas emissions annually.3 Recovering all this wasted food could feed the food insecure, could clean the environ- ment, and could even create new market opportunities within
    [Show full text]
  • How You Can Start and Operate a Soup Kitchen
    Mission Possible:How You Can Start and Operate a Soup Kitchen By Irwin S. Stoolmacher, Martin Tuchman & Peter C. Wise Artwork by Susan Darley Mission Possible: How You Can Start and Operate a Soup Kitchen Copyright © 2011 by Irwin Stoolmacher, Martin Tuchman & Peter Wise All rights reserved. Printed in the United States No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The material in this book is not intended as a substitute for advice from attorneys, accountants or other pro- fessionals. Readers should regularly consult their own professional opinions in all matters. Published by Open Door Publications 27 Carla Way Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 www.OpenDoorPublications.com Illustrations by Susan Darley ISBN: 2 More Praise for Mission Possible Almost everyone wants to do something to make a difference. Visionary leaders of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (T.A.S.K) have made a huge difference in the lives of their patrons and in those of us who have been privileged to work with them. Mission Possible is about the best practices that have changed peoples’ lives for the better through a soup kitchen. Here’s the model. Make a difference! ~ E. Roy Riley, Bishop, New Jersey Synod, ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) 3 Dedication This book is dedicated to all those who find it necessary to come to a soup kitchen to meet their nutritional needs. 4 Acknowledgements Co-author Martin Tuchman was the conceiver of this project and his foundation, the Tuchman Foundation, is the underwriter of the book.
    [Show full text]
  • Starting Your Own Food Pantry
    STARTING YOUR OWN FOOD PANTRY Revised January 2015 SECOND HARVEST INTRODUCTION Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee's mission is to feed hungry people and work to solve hunger issues in our community. Second Harvest opened its doors in 1978 with commitment from several community leaders. The purpose of the organization was to provide a central distribution center for companies, groups and individuals who wished to help provide food for hungry people in Middle Tennessee. Modeled after the first food bank established in Phoenix in the mid-1970s, Second Harvest was designed to collect food that would otherwise be wasted, inspect and sort this food and distribute it to soup kitchens, pantries and shelters serving the hungry. During the first year, this process resulted in a total distribution of 160,000 pounds of food to 75 Partner Agencies. Today, Second Harvest distributes tens of millions of pounds each year and counts soup kitchens, food pantries, senior centers, drug & alcohol treatment centers, youth programs and homeless shelters among its Partner Agencies receiving food and working to end hunger. Second Harvest is one of the largest and most comprehensive of over 200 food banks in the Feeding America network. We partner with more than 450 Partner Agencies throughout our 46-county service area in Middle and West Tennessee to feed the hungry. Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee 331 Great Circle Road Nashville, TN 37228 Phone: 615-329-3491 Fax: 615-329-3988 secondharvestmidtn.org Starting Food Pantry/Jan. 2015 2 WHAT IS A FOOD PANTRY? A food pantry is a community-based program that collects and safely stores food and household products for free distribution to low-income and needy members of the community.
    [Show full text]
  • Donating Safe and Nutritious Food to Food Pantries and Soup Kitchens
    Leader’s Guide Donating safe and nutritious food to food pantries and soup kitchens Londa Nwadike, Kansas State University/ the significant proportion of the U.S. food University of Missouri Extension Food Safety supply that regularly goes to waste. In fact, Specialist an estimated 30-40 percent of the U.S. food supply is wasted—that is, not available for human consumption—with 31 percent food Introduction loss at the retail and consumer levels. Food The United States (U.S.) has an abundance retailer and consumer donations of safe and of food; yet many people in the U.S. still healthy food to entities such as food pantries suffer from food insecurity and utilize food and soup kitchens can help feed those hungry assistance, such as food pantries and soup families while reducing food waste. kitchens. Hungry families could use some of 1 Some groups may be reluctant to donate food Intended audiences that would otherwise go to waste for fear they will be liable if the food they donate makes Adults and youths who may be donating to someone sick. Therefore, the U.S. Congress in a food pantry, food bank or soup kitchen, 1996 passed the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan or organizing a food drive. Such groups may Food Donation Act to reduce potential donor include: liability for donations made in good faith. • Parent-teacher organizations In particular, this act can help grocery stores, • Community clubs restaurants and similar retail organizations • 4-H Clubs feel more comfortable about donating food, instead of needlessly sending food to the • School organizations landfill.
    [Show full text]
  • COVID-19 Response
    PPG: Coming Together to Combat a Global Crisis Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, PPG’s commitment to “protect and beautify the world” has guided our actions. While so much has changed, we remain focused on protecting our communities by supporting our most vulnerable neighbors. Learn more about the response from PPG and the PPG Foundation in 2020. $4.5MM+ TO COVID-19 RELIEF EFFORTS $1.1MM+ 150+ to support urgent relief and recovery grants community needs across 20 countries “ Now more than ever is our chance to pay it forward. milk During my 30 years with PPG, I have never been more proud of my colleagues and their generosity than I am right now.” – Sheila Ramirez $745K+ 5.1MM+ PPG customer service manager to educational supplies and meals donated to food virtual learning support insecure families* ““ The PPG grant enabled us to reach local, vulnerable people who were struggling, families who were home- schooling and many people who were feeling lonely and isolated.” – Kim Leadbeater $1.9MM 2:1 ambassador for The Jo Cox in-kind donations match of our Foundation of masks, PPE employees’ monetary and other supplies donations *According to Feeding America, every $1 dollar donated is approximately the equivalent of 10 meals. We protect and beautify the world is a trademark and Colorful Communities PPG Logo and the are registered trademarks of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc. ©2021 PPG Industries, Inc. All rights reserved. ” Our COVID-19 Response • Shildon Alive (UK) milk FOOD ASSISTANCE • Stowmarket & Area Food Bank (UK) PROGRAMS • Tafel Baden-Württemberg (Germany) • The Jo Cox Foundation – More in Common We have donated to community food banks and (UK) organizations serving food insecure families.
    [Show full text]
  • Notes from Harry
    L E B R AT I N C E G Notes from Harry Notes from Harry 35 YEYEAR S & BEYOND Winter Newsletter 2019 | Vol. XIX, No. 1 Serving Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee Counties Introducing Matching grant helps nourish the Hero of the Year senior food program Harry Chapin Food Bank’s effort to feed The program costs $1.1 seniors in need is going strong, and we seek million to operate. We A donation YOU! your help to keep it that way. are grateful that, for of $500 The Harry Chapin The Care & Share: Senior Feeding Campaign the second consecutive can feed a Food Bank was began 18 months ago to supplement year, a grant from the senior for a notified in December the diets of low-income seniors in Lee, Richard M. Schulze year. that we are a finalist Charlotte and Collier counties. The program Family Foundation will for the Hero of the has grown to serve 2,350 seniors, with match up to $300,000 Year Award, given more than 600 on a waitlist. in donations to the annually by The Harry Chapin food bank They are on fixed incomes, often making News-Press. We when donors designate the difficult choices of whether to pay rent are honored to be their gifts to our Care & Share: Senior and other bills or buy food or the medicine nominated with two other Feeding Campaign. The food bank’s goal is they need to stay healthy. worthy finalists. The winner will be to fulfill the match by June 30.
    [Show full text]
  • Assessing the Transformative Potential of Food Banks: the Case Study of Magazzini Sociali (Italy)
    agriculture Article Assessing the Transformative Potential of Food Banks: The Case Study of Magazzini Sociali (Italy) Giaime Berti 1 , Claudia Giordano 2,* and Mariavaleria Mininni 3 1 Institute of Management, School of Advanced Studies Sant’Anna, 56127 Pisa, Italy; [email protected] 2 Department of Agriculture and Food Science and Technology, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy 3 Department of European and Mediterranean Cultures, University of Basilicata, 75100 Matera, Italy; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +39-051-209-6147 Abstract: Food poverty and/or food insecurity have become a substantial problem in the advanced capitalist world, with growing portions of people struggling to eat healthy food every day. At the same time, just in the European Union (EU), around 88 million tonnes of food waste are generated annually. We call this paradox the “food paradox”. The question is, how to tackle food paradox? Food banks are usually presented as a win–win solution to tackle the food paradox, despite being quite controversial. Indeed, food banks are highly contested because, according to critics, they do not aim to address the structural causes, but rather they only intervene on the effects of the food paradox. This paper develops the PAHS conceptual framework, the acronym of prefiguration, autonomy, hybridization, and scalability, which provides the four categories through which to explore the transformative potential of food surplus redistribution initiatives. The PAHS is adopted to investigate the case study of Magazzini Sociali, a food bank project developed by IoPotentino, a Citation: Berti, G.; Giordano, C.; not-for-profit organization operating in Potenza.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Low-Income Individuals Do Not Access Food Pantries Kelley Fong Harvard University, [email protected]
    The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 43 Article 6 Issue 1 March 2016 The oC st of Free Assistance: Why Low-Income Individuals Do Not Access Food Pantries Kelley Fong Harvard University, [email protected] Rachel Wright Sacred Heart Community Service Christopher Wimer Columbia University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw Part of the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Fong, Kelley; Wright, Rachel; and Wimer, Christopher (2016) "The osC t of Free Assistance: Why Low-Income Individuals Do Not Access Food Pantries," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 43 : Iss. 1 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol43/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Social Work at ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 71 The Cost of Free Assistance: Why Low-Income Individuals Do Not Access Food Pantries KELLEY FONG Department of Sociology Harvard University RACHEL A. WRIGHT Sacred Heart Community Service CHRISTOPHER WIMER Columbia Population Research Center Non-governmental free food assistance is available to many low- income Americans through food pantries. However, most do not use this assistance, even though it can be worth over $2,000 per year. Survey research suggests concrete barriers, such as lack of information, account for non-use. In contrast, qualitative studies focus on the role of cultural factors, such as stigma. Drawing on interviews with 53 low-income individuals in San Francisco who did not use food pantries, we reconcile these findings by illus- trating how the two types of barriers are connected.
    [Show full text]
  • Managing Precarity: Food Bank Use by Low‐Income Women Workers in a Changing Welfare Regime
    Managing precarity: food bank use by low-income women workers in a changing welfare regime BEATTY, Christina <http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0943-9979>, BENNETT, Cinnamon and HAWKINS, Anna Available from Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/28189/ This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version BEATTY, Christina, BENNETT, Cinnamon and HAWKINS, Anna (2021). Managing precarity: food bank use by low-income women workers in a changing welfare regime. Social Policy and Administration: an international journal of policy and research, 55 (5), 981-1000. Copyright and re-use policy See http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive http://shura.shu.ac.uk Received: 16 October 2019 Revised: 30 November 2020 Accepted: 11 December 2020 DOI: 10.1111/spol.12707 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Managing precarity: Food bank use by low-income women workers in a changing welfare regime Christina Beatty1 | Cinnamon Bennett2 | Anna Hawkins3 1Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University, Abstract Sheffield, UK Employment had risen to historically high levels in Britain 2Department of Psychology, Sociology and before the coronavirus crisis; however, whereas work is tradi- Politics, Sheffield Hallam University, tionally conceptualized as a route out of poverty, this is no lon- Sheffield, UK ger necessarily the case. Participation in non-standard or 3Department of the Natural and Built Environment, Sheffield Hallam University, low-income work such as zero-hour contracts, involuntary Sheffield, UK part-time work and self-employment is increasingly a feature Correspondence of the labour market and in-work benefits which top-up low Christina Beatty, Centre for Regional incomes have been pared back.
    [Show full text]
  • UK Food Insecurity & Food Banks Briefing Memo Exercise
    UK Food Insecurity & Food Banks Briefing Memo Exercise Prepared for: Rt Hon. Emma Lewell-Buck MP By Gavin Wren January 2017 The design, layout and content of this document is the work of Gavin Wren. Contact Gavin directly for more information about specialist food writing, report writing and design/ layout work. [email protected] +44 (0)7931 392 111 Section 1 - The Assignment You are working as a parliamentary researcher for Emma Lewell-Buck, Labour Member of Parliament for South Shields. Mrs Lewell-Buck forwarded a 10-minute rule bill on 29th November 2017, asking the government to measure food insecurity. The bill will have its second reading on 2nd February 2018. BBC Question time has invited Mrs Lewell-Buck to appear as a guest on Thursday 18th January 2018 for a debate on the topic of UK food insecurity. Other guests are Sarah Newton, Conservative MP and Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work; Tim Hayward, columnist and broadcaster; Giles Coren, restaurant critic and columnist for The Times and Jack Monroe, activist and food writer. Topics for discussion relate to food insecurity, including food poverty, food banks and the welfare state. Therefore, Mrs Lewell-Buck requires a briefing memo on the relationship between food insecurity, food banks and welfare provision, focussing on rebuttals to Conservative party narratives surrounding food insecurity. Key facts need to be highlighted and recommendations made, focussing on plain English responses suitable for public discourse. UK Food Insecurity & Food Bank Briefing Memo 2 Section 2 - Introduction Food insecurity in the UK appears to be a growing problem.
    [Show full text]
  • Food Banks and Food Security: Welfare Reform, Human Rights And
    SPOL_277.fm Page 648 Friday, November 1, 2002 12:12 PM S P & A 0144–5596 V. 36, No. 6, D 2002, . 648–663 BlackwellOxford,SPOLSocial0144–5596©2002-123661000OriginalFoodGraham BlackwellFood Banks Policy UKArticleRiches Publishing Publishersand & Administration Food Ltd Security: Ltd. 2001 Welfare Banks Reform, Human Rights and Social Policy. Lessonsand from Canada? Food Security: Welfare Reform, Human Rights and Social Policy. Lessons from Canada? Graham Riches Abstract In the past twenty years food banks have established themselves as one of the fastest-growing charitable industries in first world societies. As institutionalized centres or clearing houses for the redistribution of donated and surplus food they have emerged as a key frontline response to the growing problem of food poverty and inequality. As welfare states have been restructured and cut back and basic entitlements have been denied, food banks have become secondary extensions of weakened social safety nets. This paper explores the growth of food banking in Canada and analyses its role in terms of advancing the human right to food, its effectiveness in achieving food security and the extent to which it contributes to, and/or counters the increasing emphasis by governments on welfare reform policies informed by neo-conservative ideology. Food banks are examined from the perspective of their origins and purposes, institutionalization, usage, food distributed and effectiveness. The rise of food banks in Canada is concrete evidence both of the breakdown of the social safety net and the commodification of social assistance. As such, they undermine the state’s obligation, as ratified in international conventions, to respect, protect and fulfil the human right to food.
    [Show full text]